


Familia

by TirNanOg89



Series: Animi [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M, Multi, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 22:26:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7379866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TirNanOg89/pseuds/TirNanOg89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SG1 then Buffy shortly: SG1 meets the Scooby gang! Prophesies, Snakes and Sarcophagi oh my! Life will never be the same. AU from just beforeS7 E3 ‘Fragile Balance’(which will be ignored) in SG1 and totally AU from the end of season 4 in Buffy. The Scooby’s are 20. Willow is strong with magic and good. Ignoring the whole ‘Glory’ thing so no Dawn (I do love her but she doesn’t work here) and Xander still has both eyes. No Tara ‘cause she doesn’t fit either.<br/>2004</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familia

FAMILIA ANIMI.

 

Prophesy:

When the Jackal rises the Eagle will soar  
With Heart, Mind and Strength he will fall.  
The Hunter he will find at the second door  
They will take on the fight one and all.  
When the Eagle flies with the Hyena   
The Snow Leopard close beside  
The Praeliator Dei will bring them together  
And leave the Jackal behind.  
The Shaman will lead the Hunter  
The Weeping Tree and the Wolf will come.  
Together they will stand in the fourth year of the Dog  
At the dawn of Mars rising they will join  
The Eagle the Hyena and the Fight to the Finish,  
Their joining will set Him free   
And the Jackal will finally fall.

 

Part I

Antiques dealer, Colorado Springs.

 

# Oh my, now that is a sword! #

Sam subtly moved over to the sword and saw the shop owner looking at her with interest before walking over and asking if he could help. 

“Well, I was looking at this one.”

She said, pointing to a terrible replica of a Katana that she had less than no interest in as a diversion. 

“Ah, a connoisseur I see.”

He said, and she almost laughed at his false admiration. They spent half an hour going back and forth over the weapons with Sam playing the ‘little girl lost’ for all she was worth and finally convincing him to let her have the beauty for a very nice price indeed. His head would probably spin for an hour before he realised that rather than him ripping her off, she had taken him for a small fortune. Not that she felt even the slightest guilt over it. She knew for a fact, thanks to a few friends in the Pentagon and their friends, that he would soon be shut down for fencing and myriad other offences. 

Sam very carefully took the sword home and looked at the perfect three feet long blade. It had a hand and a half black leather wrapped hilt with a perfectly gorgeous spider on the pommel. It came complete with its original black leather, hand tooled scabbard. It was lying on a bed of red silk in a carved mahogany box and she carefully wrapped a bright red ribbon around it and tied it with a neat bow ready for the party.

*************** 

Cheyenne Mountain.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if I could please have your attention!”

The airman’s voice rang throughout the room but was ignored completely by the twenty-two occupants. He started to think about panicking a little. He hadn’t been at the SGC for long, but it was long enough to realise that the base 2IC had a foul temper when roused and being ignored by these Brits was sure to rouse him. Just as he was on the verge of panic the door opened and Colonel Jack O'Neill walked into the silent room to look at the SAS officers who were stood proudly at ease waiting for him. Jack nodded to them and stifled a grin. He had heard the airman and could just imagine the poor mans panic as he was ignored, which was SOP for the SAS. From what he remembered of the last time he had worked with their like, their manners were impeccable for the chain of command but you had to earn their respect. And if you didn’t you were left in no doubt about it.

“At ease. You have all had a preliminary briefing on the SGC and what we do so I wont have to bore you with a repeat. I am Colonel Jack O'Neill, 2IC of this base. If you have a problem you come to me. You don’t ‘fix’ it, or forget it. You come to me. My people are good. They work to their best and beyond and I don’t want to see anyone in the infirmary because of a difference of opinion. I have worked with many people over the years, and after being ‘re-trained’ by the SAS I feel we should all be able to work together nicely.”

Jack knew that would get a response. Very few trained as hard as the SAS so their respect went up automatically for one of their own, however far removed. Not many people realised how diverse his training had been.

“On that note, we have a lot of geeks on the base. Leave them alone. They may be geeks but they are our geeks, they do good stuff. The heads of the geeks are on my team, we are SG1 and you may hear a lot about us. Don’t believe half of it, ignore the bad stuff. You will start your torture with Teal'c. Big guy, tattoo on his head, you can’t miss him. He’ll tell you about the Snake hierarchy. Then you will meet Major Carter, my second. She is also the head of science and she will tell you all about the Gate and the other sciency stuff. Doctor Jackson is our head of Anthropology and Linguistics and will teach you everything you never wanted to know about Snake history. He is MY geek, and has been serving with me for over seven years. Don’t let the innocent look fool you, he can and will take care of himself. After that you will see Doc Fraser, our CMO, and she will get your base line readings for our records. After that you have the wondrous joy of Teal’c and myself in the training room. If we don’t think you’re good enough, we send you back.”

He said with a malicious grin before continuing.

“Not that I can see that happening with you lot, but stranger things have happened. Believe me.”

The door opened and a huge black man with a gold tattoo on his forehead walked in.

“Ah Teal'c, just in time, right, I’ll see you later, go easy on them pal.”

The twins had decided that this assignment could be fun. If they ignored the annoying habit some women had of fawning over their hair, and various other features, it was fabulous. And that Colonel was to die for! This new bloke wasn’t half bad either.

“Can’t wait to see the rest of the talent.”

Ferox said with a grin. They had long been the jokers of the regiment. Though they were cold and often unapproachable in public, they were at home surrounded by the military and it showed in the near relentless teasing the others put up with. It didn’t take long for Teal'c to finish his lecture and there was a gentle rap on the door that opened to revel a tall blond, well, 5’9” was tall for a woman. Major Carter got many and varied comments from the seated soldiers. They all went silent when both she and Teal'c shot them quelling looks as a few got out of hand, but most of it she took with a grin. When she finally finished there was the usual Q&A session until they heard another quiet tap and the door opened to reveal a gorgeous blue-eyed blond in BDU’s almost two sizes too big for him.

“Hi Sam, you done?”

This was obviously the civilian scientist. A few of them didn’t approve of his apparent lack of respect for her rank but the twins and many others recognised it for the sign of friendship that it was. Sam soon left and Daniel went through his revised and shortened account of Earth’s history including alien abductions and less pleasant encounters. When he had finished he looked around at the solemn faces and allowed a small grin.

“Right, now you understand just how serious this is, I’ll let you know how much fun it can be too. After the first Abydos mission I stayed behind. We had a ten-day party to celebrate their freedom, nobody remembers anything for a fortnight past the third day of course, but it was fun. We had a similar party on P2X 377. After we signed the treaty they insisted we stay and celebrate and bought out some rather potent wine that tasted like juice. The village was about twenty minutes from the Gate but it took us three days to get sober enough to find it and remember the home address. Jack still swears it was a monumental feat of navigation to make the journey last that long!”

Again there were a few scolding looks for Daniel’s familiarity but he either didn’t notice them or did well at ignoring them, the twins thought it was probably the latter.

“Anyway, Jack will be bored by now so I’ll take you down to the infirmary and Janet and then he can show you all his toys.”

By then the twins knew Daniel had noticed the looks and was playing up to them. They would have to watch this one, no hardship there. He obviously had a well-developed sense of humour, and a wicked streak a mile wide.

It didn’t take them long to get to the infirmary and the twins went straight to a bed and sat on it while the next four took the rest and a nurse stood by each of them. Janet came in and introduced herself to everyone then she went to the twins and pulled the curtains around them as the other nurses did the same. Janet asked Ferus to wait outside and he politely but firmly refused and handed her their medical files. Knowing she was the CMO meant she did ‘need to know’ and they quietly went about explaining their wonderful reaction to analgesics and anaesthetics as she read the letter from their former CMO. 

After the first group had been processed Daniel asked a few SF’s to bring the rest down as and when they were ready and led the twins and their group to the weapons training room. They found Teal'c watching a very bored Jack with an indulgent look on his face as he used a staff weapon to beat hell out of a mannequin. The twins watched avidly as he spun, jumped and fairly flew through the air to attack his target then turned to each other with huge grins that disappeared as soon as he stopped and looked at them.

“Hey, everything go ok Danny?”

By then all of the recruits had figured out that this was much more than a team and the friendship went very deep. They had all listened avidly to tales of SG1 when they had taken their lunch break during Sam’s lecture and the twins had liked what they heard, though many of the others had put much of it down to exaggeration. They had realised that Doctor Jackson’s name sounded familiar because they had followed a lot of his work in the academic community. 

Daniel grinned at Jack and he knew he had been winding them up some how.

“Yeah, fine Jack.”

“Right, lets see how you lot do on the range until you’re all here, then we can play.”

Jack sounded dubious at first then almost excited as he led the first six to the range and handed out weapons. It wasn’t too long before everyone was there and Jack gathered them all together to show them his ‘toys’.

“You gona show them how it’s done then Danny?”

A couple of men snorted in disbelief at that. The thought of a scientist teaching them anything was funny, but weapons? The twins turned on them at the insult to a man they had grown to admire both academically and for his military actions and the men snapped to attention at the glares they received. Even Daniel shivered slightly when he caught the look they were getting. They were almost as scary as Jack when he got pissed, he was not going to intentionally piss these two off! Jack however was used to the misconceptions about Daniel. Which is why he made the suggestion in the first place to show them how good Danny was and let them learn before they got hurt. Daniel may not have had the training the SAS had, but he had worked with SG1 for seven years. He had fought more Jaffa than most would meet in a life time, not to mention the Goa’uld he had fought, and learning plenty of dirty tricks on the way, mostly from Jack, that he wasn’t afraid to use.

Jack was also impressed by the twins’ immediate jump to defend Daniel and their control over the others. He knew plenty about them, he had read all of their files, it was his job. So he knew the Captain's were joint CO's of the team, which should never have worked in any outfit but especially an SAS one, but it was something else to see it. A bit like hearing they were stealthy then seeing them move like jungle cats stalking through their domain, never a thought to their absolute right to hold dominion over their pride and be wherever they wanted to be. It didn’t take long to get everyone proficient in the use of both Staff weapons and Zat’s, which were all kinds of fun for the newly acquainted. When they were ready to leave Jack asked if there were any questions and one enterprising young lady asked.

“Yeah, who do I have to shoot to get a date with Doctor Jackson?”

Daniel looked at her with a grin.

“Sorry Hon, you’re not my type.”

She grinned back then almost floored SG1, Sam having joined them some time before, and the rest of the SGC personnel with a casual and almost innocent.

“You should talk to Reds then.”

It had already been noted that the twins were referred to as ‘Reds’ and everyone had started to do the same rather than get the two mixed up all the time, so they knew exactly whom she was referring to. Daniel’s eyes went as cold as Teal'c and Sam’s and Jack’s practically glowed with rage. The SAS got a huge shock at that, not only had they basically pegged all four as some what of a push-over, but they would never have pegged them as homophobes.

The twins were stunned then infuriated at the attitude, as were the rest of their team who moved to protectively surround their leaders, until realisation seeped in.

“FILE!” 

They both roared as their friends tried to protect them from the perceived threat, they immediately, though reluctantly, moved into file at parade ground rest and awaited orders. The twins looked at SG1 from their place front and centre of their men.

“Sir, ignorance is no defence, this will be dealt with.”

It proved Jack’s anger when it took almost a full minute for their words, and their meaning, to sink in, and he calmed considerably as he realised that a difference in rules and a simple mistake was behind what could have been a terrible situation. England didn’t have ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ or anything like it and the twins were obviously openly gay.

“Just remind your people of the differences in rules. This kind of thing is inevitable. Though it should be just the kind of leverage needed to get the JCS into the twenty first century.”

Which was a very clever and diplomatic way of saying ‘Yeah, I got no problem but you could get me in trouble’. And from what the twins knew of his reputation he wasn’t the kind of man to put up with any kind of discrimination and they grinned at him before blanking their expressions and turning on their team.

“You heard the Colonel. We are no longer at home, remember it.”

“Think before you act."  
"Look before you leap."  
"And other inane cliché's which we will attempt to cram into your sculls."  
"When you arrive in the exercise hall in twenty minutes.”  
“DISMISSED!” 

They finished together in a dull roar. Their team was used to them finishing each others sentences and talking together, but the SGC personnel were looking on in varying degrees of bewilderment as the team filed out to change for their up coming torture session. The twins turned back to Jack and SG1 couldn’t help but admire their precision and the graceful flow of their bodies as they moved in unison.

“So, you run this outfit rather well!”

“Thank you Sir.”

They both answered him grinning.

“If anyone makes even a derisive snort about your preference, I need to know. I am more than aware that you can and will deal with anything on your own, and feel free to do so, but after, I need to know, we deal with 'aliens'! I can't afford bigots on my teams, so just let me know. Right, you’d better go tire your team out then. We’ll see you later.”

“Yes Sir.”

The twins turned and left, going straight back to their room to change. Luckily they were all doubled up so they didn’t have to request a room together. As soon as the door closed they fell onto each other, having disconnected the camera when they were given the room. Though all of their people knew they were gay they did not advertise the fact that they were as close as they were, it didn’t tend to go down too well. So it had been a week of separate beds as they completed their transfer. When they finally pulled back for air Ferus spoke quietly.

“So hot!”

“I know. This place should come with a health warning. No CO has the right to be so bloody gorgeous.”

“Nor a geek.”

“Too right! I guess we should hurry; we don’t have long before we torture the troops.”

They sank into one another for one last, lingering kiss before separating and changing their clothes, heading to the training room and a good sexual tension relieving torture session. They entered the room at 18:00 and by 20:00 their team were thinking of all kinds of payback for their CO’s. They had practiced with every weapon available but mostly the Staff’s, or at least the wooden training version. As usual they ended with a slow jog around the room to cool down before sending their team to the showers and continuing together.

 

*************** 

 

SGC, Conference room.

 

By the end of the week the SAS had settled in and the twins had just debriefed with SG1 over the latest exercise.

“Good, things seem to be going even better than we had hoped people. So on to happier things. Colonel, no, you can not have the day off tomorrow.”

“And this is happy, why?”

General Hammond ignored Jack’s interruption and continued.

“However, we will be meeting here for a brief gift exchange at 09:00 and then Daniel is holding the party at your house at 20:00. Just remember you leave for California the morning after.”

“General, I didn’t know you cared!”

The twins were still entranced by the easy camaraderie these people shared, even at the highest level, and knew that not only would their people fit in well but they would love being here too. They had found out the previous day that Jacks birthday was coming up and gone out to get him a present. They thought a bottle of twenty-year-old Midleton Single Cask would go down perfectly.

***************

“Thanks sir, though a day off would have been better, this has been great.”

Despite his sarcasm everyone knew that Jack was truly grateful, he just had a hard time showing it. Sam looked at the others and got nods all round.

“Right, now you’ve had the little ones, you can have the big one. This is from everyone at the base, thank you for being the best CO anyone could ask for.”

Jack was truly stunned by the speech and the gift when she pulled out the case with a big bow on and gave it to him. He slowly pulled the bow off, looking around at the others with a huge grin as he did so, and then gave it his full attention as the ribbon fell away. He unclipped the latches and gapped in awe at the beautiful weapon inside the engraved mahogany case.

“Wow! I, I mean, just, wow!”

They had never seen Jack so lost for words; it was amazing, and vaguely disquieting. Even the twins realised that though Jack was a man of few words this was unusual. They also recognised the sword, though it had to be a reproduction. The original had been lost for centuries.

“Come on Jack, let’s take it down to the training room and you can show off with Teal'c. I’m sure he wont mind.”

Daniel’s enthusiasm was as infectious as always and they were soon in the training room where Teal'c got one of the practice swords and Jack reverently picked up his new ‘toy’. The others watched in amazement as Jack and Teal'c spared but it soon turned to worry as Jack’s sword began to glow. It got brighter and brighter until Jack realised what was going on and carefully put it down and got as far from it as possible. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, throw it down; he respected it too much for that, even if it did glow! They all watched in fascination as the sword grew brighter still until the light seemed to explode in a shower of black and blue sparks. 

When they could see again they realised there was a man standing over the sword. He was about Jack’s height and build; broad shouldered and muscled all over without looking like a ‘Mr Universe’ wannabe. He had long wavy black hair that fell to just below his shoulders and a Van Dyke which showed his chin and jaw to their best possible advantage. At first he just stood there, a confused and bewildered look on his face. Then his eyes filled with fire and they could see the fury building up in him until he threw back his head and yelled.

“MISCHIEF! DISCORD! COME TO ME! STRIFE! ERIS!”

By now they were starting to come out of their shock induced stupor and the twins were more than stupefied for they recognised the man and knew that meant the sword was real. Daniel was really paying attention by then and let out a stunned.

“Fuck!”

His face fell from curious to terrified in an instant and the rest of SG1 surrounded him in a totally subconscious protective move when the man lowered his head and looked at him. His face and demeanour showing a truly unhealthy level of fury in an abstract way that strangely reassured them that it was not directed at them. The glint of desperation in his eyes was enough to stop any of them calling security until they knew what was happening. Daniel looked very calmly at the man and said.

“Why did you choose that sword Sam?”

She answered automatically, well used to his seemingly impertinent questions.

“It just seemed to call to me. I knew Jack would love it.”

Daniel just nodded. It was as he suspected.

“It called to the warrior in you. It’s the sword of War.”

Jack blinked at him and realisation hit him like a ton of bricks, then Janet asked.

“Aren't all swords of war?”

“No, THE sword of WAR! That’s ARES sword.”

Everyone looked at Jack as he spoke before Daniel could open his mouth. Teal’c had heard of many human Gods because of the Goa’uld but only Chronos of the Greek pantheon had ever come up within the Goa'uld. Janet, Sam and General Hammond were still shocked. The General and Sam had added two and two and got the right answer but still couldn’t believe it. Two more bursts of black and blue sparks interrupted the moment of shared shock and a young man and woman appeared in front of Ares. They were both about Sam’s height with jet-black hair just like Ares and in similar leather outfits. Both looked like they had come from the middle of a catfight. They looked at the man and he pulled them into a huge hug.

“Strife, Eris, it’s been too long.”

“Ya know it Unc. How’d ya get out?”

Ares looked at the others in slight confusion, and Strife and Eris looked at them, finally realising they were there.

“I don’t know. The Fates said a great warrior would use my sword and call me back, but there has been no battle here.”

Eris and Strife looked at each other, then back at Ares.

“We gave the sword to every great warrior we could find for decades. Nobody had the will or the strength to bring you back. We thought the Fates had lied to us so we sealed the sword in your temple in Mycenae. We lost hope.”

“Me too. I thought I was gona go nuts in there. I can’t believe I’m finally out.”

He looked over at the still stunned audience and finally grinned when his eyes rested on the twins.

“You’ve been looking after these two for me then Strife?”

“Yeah, we done our best Unc. Me an’ mom couldn’t take it all at first, but lately it’s been easy, not much work for any of us any more. I can’t believe you’re back Unc!”

Ares smiled his rare true smile and the other two threw themselves at him again. Their unwitting audience could see the tears on all three faces as they drew out the hug as long as they could. The twins meanwhile were looking at each other in stunned awe. They had never in their lives thought they would actually MEET their God. And even if they had they really wouldn’t have expected him to recognise them! Jack and Daniel were looking at them speculatively. The twins knew they had figured it out; it didn’t take a genius with their tattoos! The trio of Gods finally let each other go and stood back looking at the mortals for a while. Ares began to frown as he looked at Teal'c and when Jack noticed he moved right in front of him. That was not a friendly look!

“You allow one of those animals to walk free among you! Why?”

Jack looked him straight in the eye and said.

“Teal'c is no more an animal than you. The only thing he’s guilty of is believing in false Gods, and if that’s a crime you’ve got a lot of people to punish.”

The twins stared at Jack in astonishment; they couldn’t believe he had spoken to Ares like that! Ares stared at Jack for a while then slowly nodded.

“You obviously believe in him. He must be rare among his kind.”

“Not so much as you might think. Most of the others just die as soon as they open their mouths, or keep quiet and suffer through it.”  
"As is the way of many poor armies, they never last long, they lack conviction."  
"They've lasted long enough, there aren't many of us against them, comparatively speaking, and if it keeps going like this they might just win, we can't beat their numbers head on. So far we're keeping our heads above water, but only just, with guerrilla warfare, we don’t have any choice."

The SG personnel couldn’t believe Jack was being quite so open and honest with these aliens, possibly gods, but they trusted him enough to let him carry on for the time being. Ares looked at Strife and Eris and nodded slightly, they nodded back and disappeared in a shower of sparks, then he gave his full attention to Jack.

"You woke me. It has been a long time since I was imprisoned, I need to go home, find my family, find out what has happened, but I will return. You and I will talk Jack O'Neill. For now you will watch over my boys, you can help each other. It will not be long now, I can feel my Flicker preparing to wake, then I will come to you. Don’t fear them Jack O'Neill, and never fear Death, He will not take you, however close he may seem, He will not take you. You are mine now. Be ready, and do not fear."

With that he disappeared too. The room was silent for a while until Jack sighed and went to pick his 'new' sword up again.

"Well, that wasn’t at all fucked up."

Even George couldn’t find it in his self to reprimand him for the language, it was what they were all thinking after all. Jack put the sword back in it's sheath and looked at the twins.

"You and me boys, we need a chat."

Then he turned to Hammond.

"I think the conference room would be easiest, shall we?"

With that he walked out of the training room and headed to the conference room, quickly followed by everyone else. Once they were settled around the conference table everyone looked to the twins, so they told them everything.

It wasn’t a particularly long lecture, considering, they spent a few hours going over everything the twins mother had taught them about Ares and the Greek Pantheon, Jack and the others asking a few questions along the way but mostly just listening. 

"So how sure are we that the, man, we just met is the same Ares you were taught about?"

Hammond asked the twins the question on almost everyone's mind, but Jack answered.

"It's him."  
"Why are you so sure Jack?"

Hammond asked, not because he didn’t believe him, just because he needed to know how he had come to the conclusion.

"Don’t ask me! I don’t have a bloody clue how I know, I just do. I 'know', without any doubt at all, I know that was Ares, and Mischief and Discord. And it's not like Nem, at all, because I can question it, I have been, there's no compulsion, no conflict, I just know, right down to my bones, I know."

Hammond looked at him steadily for a long while before looking to the rest of SG1. Daniel looked worried but not doubtful. Sam looked worried too, and there was just a trace of a scientists scepticism. Teal'c looked as blank as usual, but he nodded to the General, he would back Jack. Hammond nodded to his self.

"Then unless and until it is proven otherwise, we just met the God of War. How the hell do I word that report? More to the point you have a mission tomorrow and a long way to get there, so I suggest we all call it a night and I will meet back here with the Captain's Essex for a long and interesting meeting where we will come up with some way to explain all this to the President."

Jack smirked at the twins then grinned at Hammond.

"At least he likes us! If this had happened last year we'd have all been toast!"

Hammond didn’t look quiet so enthusiastic about that as Jack was, so he decided it was time to leave and prepare for their next mission.

*************** 

Part 2

The Following Afternoon, Sunnydale, California. 

 

“So Danny, what exactly are we looking for?”

Jack asked as they walked through a crowded but apparently deserted warehouse. The trip hadn't been as bad as he had expected and it had given them all time to think about everything that had been happening. Jack still thought it was amusing that the rest of the team was more concerned about him being off base than he was. As far as he saw it, either Ares was right or he wasn’t', weather he was a god, an alien or a figment of their imaginations, it came down to weather he was right or wrong. If he was wrong then it was all bullshit and nothing to worry about, if he was right then it was gonna get hairy but he would survive, nothing to worry about. Explaining this to the others hadn't done anything in the way of making them relax.

“Basically I was looking through Catharine’s fathers notes last week and found a few references to a third artefact found near the Gate and petrified Jaffa.”

“They didn’t look that scared to me.”

Jack muttered under his breath. Daniel decided to ignore him, it was generally easier.

“So I followed it up and, via a long and convoluted path you really have no interest in, found out it was in this warehouse. Somewhere.”  
"Along with the Arc of the Covenant, probably."

Jack pointedly looked around him at the very large and very full warehouse and back to Daniel who just shrugged. 

“So, we are looking for a sarcophagus.” 

He spoke fast and tried to hurry away.

“Exqueeze me? Nobody mentioned sarcs before!”

“That’s because the General actually wanted you here, not finding myriad excuses to be elsewhere.”

Daniel said as he looked pointedly at Jack. Jack harrumphed and turned away with his nose in the air in mock indignation.

“Shows what you know. I would only have needed one excuse.”

Daniel and Sam grinned at that while Teal’c raised an eyebrow. It still surprised him how such an experienced warrior could behave like a petulant child while hiding very real fear. Daniel was about to comment when Jack went rigid. A quick glance showed Teal'c had also sensed something. Sometimes Jacks spatial awareness and ability to sense change almost freaked him out. He then had to remind himself that Jack did not last ten years in covert opps by being slow. 

“So, what’s tonight’s special?” 

A male voice rang out in the silence.

“Xander! Don’t you know how to be quiet?”

A feminine voice hissed back. There was a chuckle. 

“Why bother? They already know we’re here.”

SG1 looked at each other. How could they know they were there? As the strangers continued talking they would have heaved a sigh of relief if it hadn’t been for the noise factor.

“That is so not the point Xander. We’re supposed to be practicing sneaking!”

“Wills, Wills, Wills. Even if we could get past the Buffster, Oz could hear our heartbeats a mile off and smell us anywhere this side of the Hellmouth.” 

SG1 looked at each other again. ‘Heartbeats?’ ‘Smell?’ ‘Hellmouth?’ It also raised the question of where ‘Buffster’ and ‘Oz’ might be. Not for the first time, Jack sent up a silent but heartfelt thank you to Thor. Telepathy was a wonderful thing!

{Teal'c, Carter. Take the left. Keep close. Danny, with me.}

Three nods were their only response as they split up to search for the sarcophagus, and their company. Which for the latter part wouldn’t be hard. 

“Xander! You have to get in the spirit of things, we have to practice sensing the enemy before they get to us.”

“So true Wills. We really need as much time as possible to run away and call for Buffy don’t we?”

Daniel shook his head. He felt sorry for the woman, it seemed almost as hard talking to ‘Xander’ as it was to Jack. And Jack could drive a saint to murder when he tried, and, as he mentioned last time Daniel pointed this out, he was damned proud of it too. 

“Xander that’s not what I meant at all and you know it! If we know what’s coming we’ll be better prepared to fight it off.” 

The woman’s voice was sweet but had a definite core of steel. But so did the man’s.

“You mean like knowing Oz is behind me and about to pounce so I can do this.” 

There was a pause followed by a thump.

“And really embarrass him when he misses the doughnut boy?”

Apparently that was exactly what happened and the woman had nothing to say about it except a small snigger. They listened as someone got up and brushed themselves off muttering beneath their breath.

{O’Neill, there is a second female above the group}

Jack looked up.

{Got her T, keep looking for the sarc. Hopefully they’ll just leave.}

This turned out to be wishful thinking. Jack and Daniel moved closer so they could see the group properly. The first woman, presumably ‘Wills’, looked about 25. She had bright red hair and a pixie face that really did not go with the black military fatigues she was wearing. The tall dark haired man looked around the same age and wore a matching outfit while the third member, a blue haired male, wore black jeans and t-shirt. The second woman, a petite blond, chose that moment to jump down between the two men and the tall dark one was the only one in the group not to jump. 

“Wondered when you’d join us.”

He muttered. The blue haired man turned to him questioningly.

“How the hell did you know I was there Xan? Or Buffy? Even I didn’t hear her move!”

The boy turned to face him, and coincidently Daniel, as he spoke.

“Not just a pretty face hey Oz?”

As he watched and listened to the man Daniels first thought was ‘My God it’s Jack’. Unfortunately for him he broadcast the thought to the rest of the team. Jack didn’t know whether to be insulted or complimented. The others found it hilarious. The blond woman spoke sharply.

“Cut it out you two. Lets find this coffin and get it over with.”

Jack and Daniel looked at each other and would have groaned if it hadn’t been for the noise factor again.

{Sir?}

Sam called to Jack and he knew exactly what she was thinking. They were supposed to keep this quiet, which it wouldn’t be if a group of locals got in their way.

{Just keep looking for now, we’ll keep an eye on them and you find the sarc.}

Sam nodded, Jack didn’t know how he knew she had nodded, he just did. If he thought about it too much it was very confusing, so he didn’t bother and just accepted it. He seemed to be doing that a lot recently. Luckily the group didn’t split up again and Jack and Daniel followed them as they followed ‘Oz’ who appeared to be ‘smelling’ his way! Jack decided it was just one more thing to accept in life. 

{I have it O’Neill.}

How Teal'c’s voice was still dignified and very slightly overbearing even in his mind Jack didn’t want to know.

{Ok, where are you?}

Luckily they had been in similar situations often enough that they had become quite proficient in using grid references when in large enclosed areas such as this. The area was split into a ten by ten grid, and then if large enough, like this warehouse, each grid was also broken down into a ten by ten grid. It had proven a wonderfully simple yet effective method of finding each other.

{3,7 at 5,5}

Teal'c was never talkative, not even in his mind.

{Shit, we’re headed right for you. I think this is about to get messy.}

As was all too often the case, Jack was right.

“Oh, there, that must be it!”

The red head was bouncing in excitement as she pointed out the large sarcophagus that Jack just knew was the one Teal'c had already identified as the one they were after. They really couldn’t chance a bunch of civilians letting a snake loose. The dark haired man (whom they assumed was Xander as the blue haired man was fairly obviously Oz) had been looking around suspiciously while they were talking, now he looked directly at where Daniel was hiding. He frowned in concentration then looked over to where Jack knew Sam was hiding. He said nothing to the rest of the group who were too busy looking at the sarcophagus and arguing to pay him any attention. 

{Danny, Sam, you’ve been marked.}

{WHAT? How the HELL did anyone mark me? I don’t hardly know where I am!}

The explosive comment just proved how happy she wasn’t and Jack had to grin. They both started silently moving back as Jack watched Xander. He saw the slight grin on his face as soon as they started moving and knew they were completely busted. What he didn’t know was why Xander still hadn’t said anything yet.

{Stop, he’s got you now. He doesn’t seem bothered too much so lets see how this goes. We can see just how good he really is.}

Jack was still grinning as he watched him. It took Xander another five minutes to find Teal'c while his friends continued arguing over the sarcophagus. When he finally did he looked straight at him and grinned. Jack mentally chuckled at him. This kid was good! 

“Man, we need Giles. Wills and Xander you stay here. I’ll take Oz and get Giles. And keep an eye on the box.”

Xander rolled his eyes again and threw a perfect parade ground salute.

“Yes Sir Buffy Sir!”

Jack couldn’t help smiling at that. 

{I like this kid!}

It was Daniels turn to roll his eyes.

{Of course you do Jack, he’s as bad as you.}

Jack just smiled more. Buffy and Oz left the warehouse and Jack wondered what to do next. He looked over at Xander who was grinning at Willow and decided to leave it up to him. Which was fortunate, as Xander had already decided what to do.

“So Wills, you gonna introduce yourself first or shall I?”

Willow looked at him in confusion for a moment then got it.

“Oh, right, sorry. Where are my manners? Hello, I’m Willow Rosenberg.”

And all with a beatific smile! Jack almost laughed again.

“And I am Alexander Harris. Please call me Xander. The two lovely people that have just left are Buffy and Oz. Or the Slayer and Dog boy if you prefer.” 

{What?}

Jack couldn’t help but ask. He only received shrugs in reply.

{Ah well. Danny, do your bit, then Carter and Teal'c. Lets see what he can really do!}

The smirk in his voice made all three of them grin. Daniel stood up slowly with his hands out. 

“Hi, I’m Daniel Jackson. These are Sam Carter and Murray.”

Daniel introduced them as they stood. Jack watched Xander and noticed that he looked at each of their hiding places just before they moved. Xander nodded a greeting with a grin on his face as Willow smiled brightly at them all then spoke in a singsong almost childlike voice.

“So, what ya doin?” 

“We were looking for that Sarcophagus.” 

Daniel explained. Xander slowly shook his head and sighed as he shared a look with Willow.

“Now ya see, that’s a shame, ‘cause we need that coffin and it’s not the kind of thing you can share.”

Daniel, Sam and Teal’c shared a look for a moment as they listened to Jack.

{Ok kids, lets keep this friendly but we can’t let them take it. Danny see what you can find out and if there’s anything else we can get for them instead.}

Xander watched them for a moment with a slight frown before almost bouncing with excitement. 

“Damn you’re good! Don’t come out yet, this is gonna be fun!”

{What the hell?} 

{He has realised you are not our leader Daniel Jackson, that in fact our leader has not shown himself.}

{That’s one smart kid! I want him in the SGC!} 

Jack was almost bouncing his self as he considered the show of smarts and awareness. 

“Damn, you really are good.”

Xander murmured to himself. He had scanned the entire room without success. At first he had kept this ability to himself, after telling the girls he didn’t remember anything about the Hyena incident he did not want Buffy realising he had lied. He also didn’t want her realising the Hyena was still there, just caged up. Unfortunately for him it hadn’t taken Willow long to realise something was wrong. At first she had put it down to sense memory but it had gone on for too long. When she finally cornered him on the matter he told her everything. Her resolve face was more effective than sodium thiopental! They had since realised that they could work very well together with his senses and her magic.

“Give us a hand witchy babe?”

Willow grinned at him and offered her hand. A gentle breeze took up in the warehouse and Willow and Xander’s hair danced in it. Xander closed his eyes and opened himself to the life in the warehouse. The two froze and their suddenly black eyes opened glaring at Sam and Teal’c.

“What are you?”

Came the melodious joint voice as they spoke simultaneously. Jack damn near applauded even as he was ‘almost’ shocked. He had seen too much weird shit since joining the SGC to be shocked by anything anymore. He glanced over towards the entrance as the other two returned with a third man. He guessed this was the ‘Giles’ they had gone for.

{They’re back.}

He called to the others as Willow and Xander looked over their shoulder at the newcomers.

“Xander, Willow what is going on?”

‘Giles’ was obviously British and in charge of the group. Even Buffy accepted his leadership.   
“Daniel?”

“Ripper?”

Both men spoke at the same time then nodded and stepped forward for the most emotional hug the Scooby’s had ever seen from Giles. They were both talking ninety to the dozen and making little sense to anyone but each other.

“Haven’t seen you in bloody years mate!”

“Bout 15 Rip, an you still look old!”

“An you still look like a kid. What the hell are you doing here?”

Which was closely followed by almost ten minutes of solid chatter in various unknown languages. Xander got bored rather quickly and interrupted.

“Giles, we were saying hi to our new friends when I realised there was one missing. I couldn’t find him on my own so Wills was giving a hand when we realised she isn’t quite right and he’s all wrong!” 

Giles grinned and shrugged to Daniel then looked at Sam and everyone could feel the crackle of static in the air. He finally nodded and dismissed her to go on to Teal'c. He stared for a while at his stomach and grimaced. Buffy noticed it and asked.

“Giles?”

“She’s human, temporary possession. He’s not.”

“Do I kill it?”

Sam and Daniel glared at her and moved closer to Teal'c. Surprisingly Willow, Xander and Giles glared at her too. 

“No Buffy, you do not kill him. How many times do you need to be told to act, not react? Now, if your friend would like to come out we can find out what is actually going on here.”

Giles aimed the last to Daniel who grinned as Jack ‘spoke’ to him.

“Um, he’d rather not. He doesn’t want to spoil Xander’s game.”

He looked at Giles and shrugged with a long suffering but amused look on his face.

“Jacks sense of humour is a little, ‘strange’.”

Giles nodded to him and watched Xander bounce around with fond exasperation.

“Do get on with it then, we don’t have all day for hide and seek.”

Xander grinned and took Willows hand again. Now they knew about Sam and Teal'c they could ignore them and concentrate on finding their quarry. Jack closed his eyes and made his breathing even shallower than before. He almost jumped out of his skin when he ‘heard’ Xander in his head.

[Where are you, where are you, where are you? I know you’re here. Wills, why can’t we find him?]

Jack couldn’t believe he could hear him; it was as close to shock as he had been in years. 

[I don’t know Xander. He could be shielding himself but then we should be able to find the shield.]

Jack was surprised that he could feel Xander’s confusion but not Willows, he realised that if he could hear and feel Xander, then Xander could probably feel him. He blanked his mind and quickly thanked the US Air Force for the anti torture training.

[This is stupid! I know he’s here. Why the hell can’t we find him?]

Jack ‘knew’ he heard a growl beneath that little tirade. He sent out calming feelings along the strange link. It was a completely subconscious reaction to their agitation and he didn’t know he was doing it. Willow was the first to notice it.

[Wow!]

Xander followed her thought and felt the almost blissful feeling. It was like a low level fog of emotion but they couldn’t pin it down. Willow nudged him and grinned, they didn’t even need thoughts to know what the other meant, which was actually kinda scary if you thought about it too long. They knew the feeling was in reaction to their discomfort and disappointment and decided to find out how it would react to anger. The angrier they became the stronger the feelings sent to them. Willow grinned, as Xander got angrier, the bliss got stronger and she followed it back to its source. When she found him she nudged Xander and he calmed himself almost instantly. She showed him where Jack was and they almost laughed. He was barely ten feet from them! At that range Oz at least should have heard his heart beat or smelt him. 

“Damn, you are good! You can come out now.”

As he spoke Xander sent a picture of Jacks hiding place and looked straight at him. Oz swore he almost had a heart attack and damn near jumped out of his skin, as did Buffy and Giles, when he heard a deep chuckle from right behind him. Right where Xander was looking. Bastard! 

Jack slowly stood up from his hiding place and grinned at them. His swagger was as exaggerated as possible as he walked over to them grinning maniacally. Daniel looked between Jack and Xander and shuddered. Their maniacal grins were identical. He just knew the excrement was really gonna hit the aeration device with this one! The two men were pretty damn close in looks too. From their 6’2” height and perfectly proportioned, well muscled physique through their pool-of-chocolate-jump-right-in-and-drown-happy eyes, they were near identical except the 'slight' differences in face and hair. Xander’s hair was long, shaggy and near black while Jacks was short, neat and silver. The two men looked each other over and couldn’t help smiling. Giles cleared his throat to get their attention but Xander just straightened and threw a perfect parade ground salute at Jack. 

“Sir!”

Jack stiffened and returned the gesture with more effort and sincerity than he had used in years.

“Airman.”

Giles’ eyebrows went up.

“Sir?”

“Colonel Jack O’Neill. USAF, at your service.”

Jack spoke with a grin but it did not go down as well as he would have expected. There was a short stunned silence followed by Buffy glaring at him and Giles frowning. Buffy couldn’t stop thinking of what they had put Riley through, the drugs, ‘enhancements’, and near brainwashing. Giles was worried about these things as well as the Adam situation and whatever else the military were going to put his children through. Xander and Willow didn’t worry at all. They had experienced Jacks reaction to their worry and anger. Nobody who reacted in that way so quickly and instinctively could be that bad, and he was the boss so the others were ok too. 

They knew there was nothing they couldn’t overcome together, as did Jack. Daniel, Sam and Teal'c however were not so sure. They each saw the immediate mistrust and worry caused by Jacks rank and didn’t like it at all. They were, however, perfectly willing to go wherever Jack might lead them. They had followed him to Hadante and back and wouldn’t hesitate now. Jack decided to cut the crap and the middleman, so to speak. While the others were busy glaring at each other he looked at Xander.

[We need the box. It could be dangerous.]

[It is dangerous and we need it too. It’s part of a prophecy. It’s the only way we know how to stop the next big bad.] 

[How about we stick together for a while. If it’s what we think it is we can deal with it. If it’s what you’re looking for then you can deal. Sound good?]

“Sounds good to me. How are we gonna move the damn thing?”

Xander grinned at the looks they got from the others at the sudden comment. Jacks maniacal grin made a comeback as he replied.

“Just watch and learn young padawan. Follow me!”

With diabolical laughter trailing them they left the rest of their groups gapping with shock or anger at their retreating backs. Jack led Xander out to their truck and lowered the back ramp. Xander stared at the F.R.E.D. in awe. 

“Wow! That is one nice toy!”

“Yup. I get to play with all the best toys the USAF can come up with, and a few besides.” 

By the time they had the F.R.E.D. out of the truck and back into the warehouse both men were giggling like schoolboys as Jack told tales of some of his favourite toys. Though both would vehemently deny giggling, it was certainly a manly chuckle! Seven stunned faces watched as the two men fixed the modified F.R.E.D.'s harness to the sarcophagus as though they had worked together for years, keeping up a steady chatter of Twinkies, pie and hockey while they did so. 

By the time they were done Willow, Daniel and Sam were grinning at them, Giles and Teal'c watched with indulgent amusement and Oz and Buffy watched with complacence and annoyance respectively. Jack and Xander walked the F.R.E.D. back to the truck, apparently oblivious to the others, still chatting about everything and nothing. Daniel tried to ‘tune in’ to Jack to ask what they were going to do but quickly realised he was already busy. While continuing their inconsequential verbal chatting, they were also ‘talking’ telepathically. Daniel couldn’t ‘hear’ Xander and even Jacks side of the ‘conversation’ was vague and distorted as though seeping through some kind of barrier. The two men were holding two completely different coherent conversations at the same time. 

Logically, SG1 knew Jack wasn’t as dense as he acted. Nobody that stupid survived ten years in special and black operations, let alone got promoted to full Colonel. However, they still fell for the ‘harmless imbecile’ act that he played so well and underestimated him like everyone else. Very few people gave Jack the credit he deserved, and that was just the way he liked it. The more people thought he was an idiot the more likely the enemy were to underestimate him, be they foreign or domestic. Daniel briefly wondered what the second conversation was on but knew Jack would tell them if it was important. Jack looked up at Giles.

“Why don’t we take this back to your place and we can chat in comfort.”

Giles just nodded and followed them, along with everyone else, back to the truck. 

As Jack and Xander had walked toward the truck to get the F.R.E.D., Jack ‘felt/heard’ a knock in his mind and grinned.

[Yeah?]

Xander grinned back and continued their verbal conversation while sending a wordless query. Jack sent back memories of the academy, his first time in a fighter jet, being recruited for special operations. Xander nodded internally and asked again. Jack shrugged and sent the hierarchy of the SGC, himself, Hammond, the JCS and the President. Xander was suitably impressed by this and didn’t query any further. Then he asked about Teal'c. Jack would have had a hard time stopping himself if he had tried, though he didn’t, and images of Teal'c as he first saw him, the first time he saw ‘Junior’, Teal'c minus Junior and almost dying all flew through his mind and straight to Xander. Xander shivered, he had seen a lot more than most in his short life but that was just plain freaky. To rely on your worst enemy for your very existence? It kinda reminded him of Deadboy. 

This of course went straight to Jack and prompted his own query. So Xander explained. Had he not received the information straight from Xander’s memories in the manner he had, Jack would never have believed it. This was not a fun experience for the unshakable Jack. He could accept aliens, had worked with one for years, demons and vampires he had known about even before that, it was one of the reasons he had been chosen to lead the SG teams, but kids fighting them? The whole Initiative fiasco had his blood boiling. He had never heard of a worse mess in all his time in the Force. He would dearly love to get hold of the C.O. of that little outfit, and their backers. He wouldn’t mind betting the NID had their hands in it either. 

At this point he realised the Scooby’s were going to take a whole hell of a lot of convincing about aliens, just as SG1 would with demons. He also realised that while both groups had a lot to loose, his were starting from much firmer foundations. They knew if anything went wrong General Hammond knew where they were and would get them out. The Scooby’s on the other hand had nobody but themselves and were facing the might of the entire US Air Force, at the very least. And they already thought the military were unconscionable idiots, at best. He really did hate to see people looking down on his beloved Air Force, so he would just have to prove that not all military were like the Initiative. Xander didn’t expect any of what he got from Jack just then. 

Jack opened his mind, and memories of the previous eight years, and let them flow right over Xander. Right from the death of Charlie, through his recall, the ‘Geek’, the first Abydos mission, Teal'c, Sam and everything up to just before Anubis. They both knew they would get nowhere without full disclosure and complete honesty. By the time they realised where they were, they were pulling up outside Giles’ house. Jack knew from Xander’s memories that they would not receive an invitation, so walked right in. The rest of SG1 wondered at Jack when he entered the house without an invitation but followed regardless. They moved the sarcophagus into the front room while Giles got everyone seated and handed out drinks. Jack looked at his team, a slightly worried look on his face.

{There’s only one way that we’re going to get this sorted out anytime in the next decade. If you want to leave now or lodge a formal complaint I will completely understand, but I am going for full disclosure. They have as much to hide as we do and a lot more to loose. They can't afford to go first, I can.}

Sam had sat through most of this with her jaw almost hitting the floor. Jack was always over protective when it came to keeping the SGC a secret. He knew better than most the necessity of keeping quiet. To hear him of all people talking of pre-emptive full disclosure without official backing was almost unbelievable. No, scrap that, it was bloody unbelievable! 

{Sir!} 

Jack shook his head slowly and his eyes chilled the room. Even Buffy noticed.

{No Carter, you can go, make an official protest or you can trust me.}

{We’re not gonna stop trusting you now Sir, we’ve been too far for that, this just isn't like you.}

Jack grinned at that then looked at Xander.

“So, you know them better than me, how do I start?”

Everyone looked at Xander with varying degrees of expectation till he spoke.

“It’ll take a while, but you may as well get Daniel to start from the beginning.”

Jack shrugged and looked at Daniel expectantly. Daniel cleared his throat as the expectant looks were turned on him and started from the beginning. He told them of Ra, his young host, the Gate, Abydos and the rebellion. They obviously weren’t too shocked, so he continued. Catharine and her father, Earnest, their first Abydos mission with Jack. This finally got their attention. He gave them the condensed version, leaving out a lot of the facts and all of the emotions, but he definitely had them on the edge of their seats. Jack decided that was more than enough for now as he was bored. 

“So, believe in aliens?”

Xander and Willow grinned at him, Buffy was in shock and Oz was trying to hide his excitement behind an act of nonchalance. Giles was fascinated and Buffy was still wary about the military aspect but couldn’t help but admire Jacks willingness to trust them.

“Anyway, what's this got to do with the coffin?”

“Sarcophagus.”

Daniel couldn’t help correcting Buffy. Jack and Xander couldn’t help laughing but Buffy was anything but amused. Giles calmed them down and, ignoring her question completely, explained what they did. Jack had already gotten the full story from Xander but the other three were close to stunned. Sam finally realised, as she listened to Giles tell all about his children’s lives, why Jack had gone for full disclosure. If she were they she wouldn’t trust the military either after meeting the Initiative. 

“So, what are you going to do with the sarcophagus?”

Buffy looked stunned then miffed as Giles immediately answered Daniels question after ignoring her earlier when she had asked. 

“We recently came across a prophecy that appears to refer to our group, among others. Previous research into this prophecy, and others closely related to it, has lead to this sarcophagus. The prophecy is supposed to be set in motion soon and we need it.” 

SG1 thought about this for a while. Inevitably, Daniel spoke first: 

“So, where is this prophecy?” 

Giles handed him a copy that was sat on the coffee table to read through. 

“It seems pretty vague. Jackal, Eagle, Hyena. These could be anything or anyone.” 

Giles nodded. 

“True, however, when you put them together, you have two groups. Buffy is the ultimate hunter, I am her shaman, Willow is the weeping tree, Oz is the Wolf, and Xander is the hyena.” 

SG1 looked at Giles, then Xander. Jack had already seen this one and shrugged. 

“Long story, later.” 

They nodded at him, still confused but happy to go along with him. 

“The second group is the Eagle, Heart, Mind and Strength.”

Giles continued. Daniel looked at the paper for a while.

“Who are the other four?”

Giles looked vaguely confused.

“The Jackal is the ‘big bad’ as the children would say. We don’t know who the Snow Leopard is and we're not sure if the Praeliator Dei is a person or concept.”

“Okay, but what about the Fight to the Finish?”

“That’s the last battle.”

Buffy interrupted with a ‘Duh!’ look. Daniel shook his head.

“No, look here. ‘The Eagle, the Hunter and the Fight to the Finish.’ The way it’s arranged, the capitalisation, it’s not a concept, it’s a name, just like Praeliator Dei . And it's not the 'last battle' so much as a refusal to loose, almost indomitable.”

SG1 were used to this kind of thinking, the others were not so lucky. Giles looked at him in stunned silence, while the rest looked at Giles. Could he possibly have been wrong, even this small a detail?

"Where did the prophecy come from?”

Giles shook his head clear and grabbed a book from the table. 

“Ah! The Tokrashinas, they were an ancient sect of Shinas demons. I do believe they originated in Egypt.”

“Egyptian? May I?”

Daniel perked up at that and Giles happily handed over the book. Not long after he started to read SG1 realised there was a problem. He looked up from the book to Jack.

“Shit! I think that full disclosure is about to get a little fuller.”

Jack frowned at that. This could not be good. Daniel pushed the book at him and pointed out the name of the sect. Jack went white.

“Giles, just how accurate is this translation?”

“Well, the original hieroglyphs are in the back, as is the Latin translation. You can check it if you want.”

Daniel would have done just that but Jack got there first.

“Fuck! Why can’t we have just one simple mission that has nothing to do with those snaky bastards? Why? I’m going on vacation. No, scrap that, I’m retiring! Again!”

Daniel watched with a raised eyebrow, as did Teal'c. Sam tried not to laugh and turned away when she failed miserably. Giles and the Scooby’s were just stunned.

“Finished?”

“No! If I wanna sulk I damn well will! I don’t wanna play no more!”

By then Giles was worried and wanted to know what was happening. At the look he sent Daniel he was shown the Latin translation of the original text.

“It’s not pronounced ‘Tockray-shinas’, it’s ‘Toque-Ra-Shinas’. As in ‘the Shinas against Ra’! Which almost undoubtedly makes the Jackal Anubis, and the other group us.”

At the funny looks he received form the Scooby’s he explained.

“Jack is a full bird Colonel in the US Air Force, complete with eagle wings, Sam is our mind and Teal'c is our strength. Now all we have to do is find this Snow Leopard, Praeliator Dei and ‘Fight to the Finish’.” 

If anyone noticed that the ‘Heart’ was conspicuous by its absence they didn’t mention it. Then Teal'c shocked them all by speaking for the first time.

“Indeed, but when is Mars rising?” 

They all looked at Sam and Giles who both shrugged.

“Don’t look at me! I’m an astrophysicist not an astronomer.” 

“Don’t look at me! I’m a librarian not an astronomer.”

Jack grinned as they both answered. 

“Check the original Danny, Mars wont rise for ages. What? Do I have to remind you about the telescope again?”

He glared at them for a moment as he tagged on the last. SG1 shook their heads and once more asked themselves why they fell for the dumb act? Daniel finally chuckled and checked the back again.

“Who translated this? Budge? It’s damn near as accurate as that imbecile! That’s not ‘Mars’, it’s ‘ARES’!”

The Scooby's were far from happy at the thought of fighting a god but Xander looked quizzically at Jack, the older man felt almost happy, suddenly confident and not bothered by it at all.

"Why is that good?"  
"Because we just met Ares yesterday. Good guy, let me keep his sword, said his 'Flicker' was coming back."

Xander looked closely at Jack.

“Is that were he comes in?”

Jack, and the others, sent him a querying look.

“Well I can feel someone in there and he sure as hell isn’t human. He doesn’t feel like Sam or Teal'c if that’s what you were worrying about. He doesn’t feel vampire either though and it was buried for over two thousand years."

None of the Scooby’s liked the sound of that. They almost didn’t want to know what it could be that was older than the Master. None of them were impressed but Buffy was really miffed. 

“Why would the Eagle walk with the Hyena? Why Xander?” 

This was considered for a moment. A telepathic shrug went up through SG1 with the notable exception of its leader, and a physical one from the Scooby’s with the equally notable exception of Xander. Daniel and Willow noticed this right away, the others took a moment to clue in and pay attention to the duo. 

“Well, it seems we have a connection.”

“Duh! That’s what the prophecy said. I wanna know what kinda connection.”

Buffy was not impressed. Neither was Jack, nor was he shy about pointing it out.

“Slayer or not young lady, I will not be spoken to like that.”

Jack was very quiet and SG1 worried but Buffy just blushed.

“I’m sorry. We’ve been working on this thing for weeks and we still don’t know anything about this ‘Jackal’ or how to fight it and now it looks like there’s gonna be some kinda God involved and I don’t know what to do. Sorry.”

Jack smiled.

“Had a few of those months my self, don’t worry. Anyway, a while ago a buddy of ours, Thor, kinda changed our brains a little and linked us telepathically. But it seems Xander and I can chat too. Don’t know how and the others can’t hear him, but there ya go.”

That got their attention and a few queries too.

“Thor?”

“Brains?”

“Telepathy?”

“Buddy?”

So Daniel started again. He filled them in on everything from meeting Teal'c to discovering Anubis new ‘Super Soldiers’. As he was getting into a more detailed background of Anubis the sarcophagus creaked. Everyone jumped up. SG1 readied their ever-present weapons and the Scooby’s jumped for the nearest thing to hand. They faced the sarcophagus with P90’s, stakes and crossbows at the ready. Not a word was spoken as they stared at it. It was far from comforting when nothing else happened. 

“Well that’s just plain wiggy.”

Was Xander’s considered opinion and nobody could disagree. Jack finally lowered his weapon and stepped back.

"Right, Carter, get that thing loaded back in the truck. Mr Giles, pack everything you might need to explain this lot to Hammond, the rest of you pack a bag, you're going on vacation to Cheyenne Mountain. I know you don’t like the military much but I am not leaving that thing in the middle of a city, just in case. If Ares 'Flicker' is in there, great, if it's a snake, not so good! So get your stuff and do it quick, I don’t know how long we have till that thing finishes opening and I don’t wanna find out here. I'm going to call Hammond and head to the local base, like hell am I driving all the way home with that on my ass. I'll meet you at the base, you have an hour. T, don’t take your eyes off that thing, and get it strapped as best you can. One hour!"

With that he walked out of the house. Jack knew exactly where he was going, he had memorised the map of the town on the way there, so he headed to the local base, knowing he could walk it in under ten minutes. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Hammond's direct line as he walked.

"Sir, you aren't going to believe this and you really don’t want to know. I can't explain right now, I'm walking to the Sunnydale base, but we have the package and a few friends for you to meet."  
"Jack! What have you done this time?"  
"That hurts Sir! Deep down, that hurts. We met some lovely people and Danny thought you'd like to meet them!"  
"Really? 'Daniel' thought I would like to meet them?"  
"Well, kinda, maybe, well, we all did!"  
"Right. How many and what level?"  
"Five, and all the way down!"  
"What? Are you kidding?"  
"No George, I'm really not."

Hammond knew that tone of voice. Jack had been playful and his usual level of insubordinate throughout the conversation but that last answer had been dead serious.

"Ok Jack. We really have to have a talk about taking in strays one of these days. You need anything else?"  
"Yeah, I'm headed to the base now, can you ring ahead, tell them I need a priority one transport for haz-mat, and send me a transport chopper? The package started making funny noises and I don’t like it."  
"Consider it done. How soon?"  
"ASAP, told the others to meet me there in an hour, I want back home yesterday, this town aint right George, I had my way? I'd raise it to the ground, the whole damn town. The de-brief on this is gonna be a bitch all round, real Charlie Foxtrot city."  
"Why is it always you?"  
"Hey, you set the assignments! I just follow orders!"  
"My ass!"  
"I follow orders! The good ones at least."

George couldn’t help chuckling at that.

"And thank god for it, we'd all be FUBAR without you four. Now get off the line, I have a base to call and a chopper to arrange. I'll see you when you get back Jack."  
"Course George, we'll be there as soon as we can."

Jack put the phone down and sighed, he was walking through a park area at the moment, only about five minutes or so to the base, he just hoped George got through to their commander before he arrived on their doorstep. About two minutes later he saw the men shadowing him and at first he was almost insulted by the attack it was so pitiful. He was surrounded by six men, but they were not normal, had he thought about it he would have thanked the SGC for inuring him to 'strange' he had seen so much that was so far from 'normal' that it only registered as a detail, not a shock. 

"Well, this is a cliché."

Jack was not impressed at all and the men seemed taken aback, as if he had done the wrong thing and they weren't sure what to do now. Suddenly they attacked, it took Jack less than a second to get his knife out and ready to use, he didn't want to cause too much permanent damage so he started out nice, just enough to warn them that he would protect himself, but they just kept coming and he had no choice but to fight back, of course, a few years before he wouldn't have even given them that much chance but Daniel had had a calming, humanising, effect on him. One of the men came around behind Jack and tried to grab him from behind, Jack side-stepped quickly and turned a swift 360 to slam his knife into the mans back as he went past, unfortunately the man twisted as the blade went in and ripped the knife out of his hand, Jack immediately knew he could not retrieve it and threw himself into a role between two of the others, as he came up he held two small throwing knives which immediately flew into the hearts of two of his attackers. 

As soon as they were flying he rolled again and another two knives were in his hands, the men were shocked but it only slowed them for a moment, that moment was enough though for Jack to cover his own surprise, they had hardly flinched when their hearts had been pierced, even the Goa'uld stopped for a while if you hit the heart, but he persevered, the next two knives flew straight to their targets, this time eyes, you can't fight what you can't see, and that really got a reaction, those two fell, but there were still four more, on his next role the Zat came out to play but it didn't work, they didn't feel the Zat's energy for some reason, he dropped the weapon and fell back on hand-to-hand, he had just taken the second to last one down when the last one grabbed his shoulders in a grip way too strong and as he flipped him over his shoulder he felt an intense pain in his neck, he heard the man, creature, snarling as he grabbed him again and footsteps pounding towards them. The man holding him was shocked to hear a small humourless chuckle as Jack’s treacherous mind immediately took him back to four months in Iraq and he wondered if these people would be as inventive, because he knew he wasn’t going to die, he just had to wait them out. The man was even more surprised to see Angelus and Spike rushing him, and decided there was no way he was going down fighting if he could just run away instead, so he ran. Spike ran after him for a moment before throwing a steak, hitting him straight through the heart, grinning as he crumbled to dust before going back to his Sire's side. Angel had stopped by the fallen man, one look was all he needed to know he wouldn’t make it, his instinct to throw off the attacker attached to his neck had caused too much damage, the left side of his neck torn open and bleeding heavily. Angel looked into the mans eyes once he realised they were still open and couldn’t believe the obstinate belief in their depths. The man hadn't given up, he could respect that.

"You don’t have to die here, you don’t have long to decide."  
"I aint dying yet, Ares didn’t lie. Do it."

Angel almost gaped at him in shock, Ares? But consent had been given, even if he was almost certain the man had no idea what he was consenting to, so he wrapped his mouth around as much of the damaged neck as he could and sucked hard, dragging every drop he could into his self to start the bond, surprised again when the man didn’t so much as flinch. He pulled back as the man was on the very edge of death and bit his own wrist, cutting deeper than he intended, he held his wrist to the man, his new Child, and nodded as he opened his mouth, sighing in pleasure as he finally started to actively pull the blood from his body instead of just letting it fall into his mouth. Angel startled a while later when Spike shook his shoulder.

"Come on, he's had too much!"

Angel shook his head as he realise Spike was right, he had let this go on too long, but his Child was still sucking at his wrist voraciously, he had actually grabbed hold of Angels wrist and looked intent on wringing him dry. He chuckled, hell, he'd done it again, gone and found his self a new Child, and a pushy one at that. He tried to pull his wrist away but the Child wouldn’t let go.

"Let go now."

The Child still didn’t let go. Angel frowned and pushed his thumb into the corner of his jaw to force it open so he could pull his arm out as Spike snickered loudly, watching his brother sigh and fall asleep with a small, almost sad, smile on his lips.

"Fuck Peaches, you sure know how to pick 'em!"  
"Yeah, he said he wasn’t dying, Ares told him he wouldn’t. He consented before I even asked, but I'm not sure he knew what he was agreeing to."  
"No point worrying about that now, we should get him home, find out who he is."  
"Yeah, what the hell have I got myself into this time?"

Spike laughed at him as they lifted his new brother off the floor and Angel carried him to the car. Neither of them saw the tall black haired man standing not far from them, watching with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

************************ 

Daniel and Xander both felt a shudder of dread as Jack left the house but neither noticed the other, and neither mentioned it, they would both regret that later. Sam called Teal'c to help her get the sarcophagus back in the truck and Giles asked Daniel to pack up his books while he packed his personal items, giving Buffy the keys to his car as he left the room so she and the others could get their own things. Xander quietly followed the girls out the door as Buffy told them she would drop them at home then pick them up as soon as she had got her own things, so they had as much time as possible to pack. Sam shouted a reminder to pack light as they left making Buffy roll her eyes. 

Xander didn’t waste any time packing the few things he needed once Buffy had dropped him off, heading home to get her own things. They had decided he would be quickest in packing so they dropped Willow off first to give her a little extra time, though Xander was sure Buffy would take longer than either of them. He couldn’t shake the worry for Jack as he grabbed his clothes and filled a wash bag from the bathroom, he just knew something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on what and couldn’t prove anything, so he kept his peace, knowing only Willow would take him seriously. To be fair, Giles would always listen to him, but there was little the older man could do with 'something is wrong'. He was soon finished and stood looking over his small book collection, wondering if any of them could be helpful, finally deciding that Jack, or at least Daniel, might like the demon compendium he had, it wasn’t as comprehensive as the website Willow had set up to look like a mythology site for academics, but you could hold it in your hands, and he and Giles preferred that, he thought maybe Daniel would too. Eventually Buffy returned to find him stood in the door way waiting for her, they quickly collected Willow and were back at Giles house, where they collected Giles things and stowed them in the boot of his car.

"Right, we have about fifteen minutes to meet the Colonel, so we might as well leave now."

Sam got nods from Daniel and Teal'c, Daniel just wanted to get to Jack as soon as he could, the feeling of dread we just getting worse. They all headed out to the vehicles as a car drove past and Buffy saw Angel and Spike in it.

"What are they doing in town?"  
"Who?"  
"Angel and Spike! They just drove past!"  
"We don’t have time to chat with friends, we need to meet the Colonel."  
"I'm sorry Major, they aren't friends, as such, we often work with them, if they are in town it could be truly important. Go on to the base, we will meet you there as soon as we can, I promise we wont take any longer than we have to, but we have to be sure we aren't needed here before we leave."  
"Okay. Make it quick, we'll get the sarc loaded and tell the Colonel what's going on, here, take my phone, everyone's numbers are in there, and we can call you if we need to. Let's go."

In moments both vehicles were on the move, Sam heading straight to the base and Giles headed for Crawford Mansion, where he was sure they would find the two vampires. Giles pulled up behind the car they had seen the vampires in on the drive and the five of them got out of the car. Buffy ran straight up to the door hammered on it a few times then tried to push it open, stumbling a little as it opened too easily, Spike smirking at her from inside. 

Giles noticed Xander and Oz sniffing the air for a moment, both of them looked worried until Xander smirked a little and quietly walked away from them, disappearing around the side of the house. Giles shook his head, a little saddened but not overly surprised, then turned back to where Buffy and Spike had been joined by Angel. Angel was wearing leather trousers, which had never been a good sign in the past and Giles waited for Buffy to notice.

"Angel, what are you doing here?"  
"Anything I like, what are you doing here?"  
"We saw you drive past, and thought you might be here about the Jackal prophesy, hang on, what do you mean, what am I doing here?"  
"Well, this is my property, why I'm here has nothing to do with you. Why you are here, on the other hand, I have every right to ask, or you can leave."

That was when Buffy finally started paying attention, and noticed the trousers.

"Oh god, you're Angelus!"  
"Slayer, Slayer, Slayer, you just don't get it, do you? I am Angel, I am Angelus, I am Liam, you can not separate us, we are one, we always were. The Gypsies didn't give me back my soul, I never lost it, they drove me insane, it just suited me to let you believe your own imaginations before, ask Xander, why do you think he couldn't get along with me before? Ask him girl, he has nothing against vampires, he has nothing against me, now, he despised the pretence, he spent his life at the mercy of parents who spent half their time pretending to love him and the other half trying to kill him, it was the lie he hated, not me, in fact, if you care to notice you will see that he has already left your group and made his way to the back rooms, he has a standing invitation to join us and I think he finally decided to take us up on it. And can you blame him? You were supposed to be his friends; did you ever see the bruises? Did you ask how he was when he missed a week at school because he was in hospital? Did you even realise that he hasn't slept indoors over Christmas since he was four, because it was safer outside with the demons than it was inside with his parents? That they constantly stole or broke his things just because they could? And you knew nothing, because he laughed and smiled and kept going, even in your little 'Scooby gang', he had no magic, no destiny, no training, yet he was always there for you, even I saw that, and I haven't been the most observant guy in the world for the last hundred years." 

Angel paused and shook his head in pity; she was looking so stunned.

"And he called you friend, told me he wouldn't come to me until I guaranteed your safety, like I told him, it was already guaranteed, you do a job for us, you are necessary in keeping the renegades in check, that is why 'WE' created you Slayer, ask Ripper, he knows, why do you think it scared him so much when he found out I was the last Master of the order of Aurelius, he knew that if I had died then, the Slayer line would die with me, until I pass the line to William I hold the key to your line child, and I can destroy you with a thought, you think you know everything there is to know about us, about me? You couldn't be more wrong, like this, it has been too long since I have allowed my self to do this."

So saying Angel began to rise from the floor, he flung his head back and his arms out and floated above her head, Spike soon joined him with a smirk on his face, they wound themselves together in the air, their lips meeting in a passionate embrace before slowly drifting to the floor, breaking apart and looking at her, her jaw hanging in shock, they both laughed,

"Oh, child, the things you learn. We are not evil, the renegades aren't much fun admittedly, but that is why we created your line, our society is so much less feudal than your own, and you call us animals."

"But Spike killed two Slayers!"

Buffy couldn't believe what she was seeing, and hearing, Angel threw Spike a glare,

"Yes, well, William was trying to piss me off, for deserting him, and it worked, he couldn’t kill me outright so he tried to annoy me to death. Before you ask, no, Darla was not my Sire. Do you think I could have truly killed my own Sire? Don't you think William would have done so by now if he could? We do not hurt our family. I would take my own life before I would have harmed my Sire. Ramirez was a great man, it was a blow to the entire council when he was murdered. I admit, the rampage in Europe was over the top, but at the time we were only concerned with finding his murderers. A lot of people happened to get in the way, it was unfortunate, but we cannot alter the past, much as we would like to. Now, I have new Childer to see to, if you wish to fight, go out and find some renegades as you were meant to. I have things to do."

He closed the door in Buffy's stunned face. Giles knew he didn’t have long to meet up with the SG team, and they still had to get the sarcophagus safe and find out who or what was in it. He didn’t like leaving Xander behind but he had seen the young man leave the group, so had Oz, he hadn't been forced, and he was an adult, it was his choice to make. He quickly got the girls and Oz in his car and began driving towards the base, waiting for the penny to drop.

"GILES!"

There it was, Buffy had finally absorbed what Angel had told her, and she really wanted to know why he hadn't told her all of it years before. It took the entire journey to impress on her that some secrets really are secret, even from her, and his oath did not end when they kicked him off of the Watchers Council. He knew he was in for a fun few months before this one blew over.

******************** 

Sam pulled up at the gate to the base and waited for the SF on the gate to come to her.

"Major Carter, you should be waiting for us."  
"Yes ma'am, we were informed."  
"Good, can you tell me where Colonel O'Neill is, and is our chopper here yet?"  
"The chopper is waiting for you, go left, second right then first left, you really can't miss it. And Colonel O'Neill hasn’t signed in yet."  
"What?"  
"The CO called down and told me to expect him but he hasn’t arrived yet ma'am."  
"Shit! Where the hell is he?"  
"We have to go and find him, now!"  
"Daniel, we can't! We have to get this back to the Mountain ASAP."  
"Then send it with someone else. I am not leaving without him. And nor will you."  
"Yeah, I know."

Sam looked back to the SF, frowning.

"Sergeant, call your CO, tell him we've gone to find the Colonel, get this truck inside, get the cargo on the chopper, do NOT allow anyone to remove any of the straps holding it shut! Pay attention to the haz-mat stickers! There should be a group of civilians arriving soon, Mr Giles, with two young men and two young women, get them on the chopper, if we're not back in thirty minutes send them on to the Mountain, don’t let them wait any longer, that cargo has to be contained ASAP. Got it?"  
"Understood ma'am, consider it done."  
"Thank you, and sorry for screwing up your night."  
"Not a problem ma'am, I have a car here you can use, there's a lot of town to cover on foot."  
"Thanks again."

The three of them got out of the truck and headed to the car they had been offered.

"Where the hell do we start?"

************************** 

As soon as Angel closed the door he turned and went to the back room they had left his new child in. The stronger a child was, the more of their Sire's blood they had taken, the quicker they would wake up after their transformation, and he didn’t think it would be long at all before this one woke, Spike had only taken a few hours. As he had expected, Xander was sat next to his new Child watching over him. 

"Spike, get the car ready please, we'll go back to the Hyperion, we'll be safer there with the others. Xander, I'm glad you decided to join us."  
"I couldn’t not. As soon as we got out of the car I could smell his blood, his name is Jack, Colonel Jack O'Neill."  
"Colonel? Shit, you really do know how to pick 'em!"  
"Thank you Spike, for your wonderfully insightful contribution, now fuck off and get the car ready."

Spike threw his head back laughing, but left to get the car ready anyway. Angel shook his head and turned back to Xander.

"So, how much shit am I in?"  
"Depends. I take it he consented?"  
"Yes, though I don’t know that he knew what he consented too. He said Ares told him he would live."  
"He said he met him yesterday. We met them earlier this evening, we were looking for a sarcophagus, there's a prophesy, I have a copy here, my bag is in Giles car, I didn’t think I could get it without Buffy and Wills noticing and trying to stop me. They work for a top secret base in Colorado, they fight aliens."

Angel gave him a hell of a look, filled with disbelief, incredulity and god only knows what else.

"Yeah, I know, I wouldn’t have believed it either, but I can read his mind, that was hard to believe too, I've seen his memories, it's true. We can talk to each other, share memories and shit. They were looking for the same thing, something to do with the Goa'uld, they thought there might be one inside, but it's not, I don’t know what it is, but it's bloody old, over two thousand years in the sarcophagus and who knows how long before that? I think the prophesy refers to you and Spike too. It's a bit weird actually, I've never been named in a prophesy before."

Xander pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Angel. Angel read it carefully.

When the Jackal rises the Eagle will soar  
With Heart, Mind and Strength he will fall.  
The Hunter he will find at the second door  
They will take on the fight one and all.  
When the Eagle flies with the Hyena   
The Snow Leopard close beside  
The Praeliator Dei will bring them together  
And leave the Jackal behind.  
The Shaman will lead the Hunter  
The Weeping Tree and the Wolf will come.  
Together they will stand in the fourth year of the Dog  
On the eve of Mars rising they will join  
The Eagle the Hyena and the Fight to the Finish,  
Their joining will set Him free   
And the Jackal will finally fall.

"Who's the Jackal?"  
"They think it's Anubis, the Goa'uld have taken a lot of Earth god names. Jack is the Eagle, his team, Daniel is the Heart, Sam the Mind and Teal'c the Strength, he's a Jaffa, kinda human but they carry a larval Goa'uld in their stomach, it acts as their immune system, they can't live without it. The Hunter is Buffy, the Hyena is me, obviously, I think the Leopard is Spike, and the Praeliator Dei is you, Angels are the warriors of God."

Angel looked at him at that, but he had to concede the point so he motioned him to carry on.

"The Shaman is Giles, then Willow and Oz, Mars is actually a bad translation according to Daniel, it should be Ares, which is probably the 'Him' near the end, and we think the 'Fight to the Finish' could be whoever's in the sarcophagus, apparently Ares said something about his 'Flicker' returning, so that could be connected, I think it is anyway. So me, Jack and this mystery player have to set Ares free to beat Anubis, should be fun."

Angel stared at him for a while then moved over to sit next to him on the couch, pulling him into a hug.

"We'll figure it out together, there's nothing to say you can't have help, and Jack is strong, he damn near drained me when I turned him, had to pry him off my wrist in the end. I expect you to be as bad."

Xander grinned up at him at that.

"Yeah, I can be a pain in the ass like that. We should wait until he's awake though, so I can talk to him, I think he'll take it better if he wakes up with someone he knows there, he's military in the hands of the enemy."  
"I think he probably will, I'll turn you once he's settled, but I don’t want to wait too long, I think we have a lot to do in the near future, it's going to be busy and you'll both deal with it a lot better if you have a while to get used to everything before we hare off on a quest.  
"Ha! A quest! Probably more like a suicide mission knowing my luck."  
"Don’t. You are mine now, you will not be dying any time soon, well, not permanently anyway."

Xander grinned at that. Spike came back with their bags and they quickly got Jack in the car, leaving Sunnydale and heading back home as fast as they could, not realising just how much trouble they were leaving behind them.

***************


End file.
